Shelton Handuwala

(Ed. note: The author's 19-year-old son, Sujeewa Pushpakumara Prasanna Handuwala, disappeared in the Sri Lankan community of Embilipitiya in December 1989. On May 15, 2005, he shared the story of his son's disappearance at the Gwangju International Peace Camp in South Korea, an event sponsored by the May 18 Memorial Foundation as part of the annual activities to commemorate the massacre on May 18, 1980, of hundreds of students and other citizens who sought to defend Gwangju from the South Korean army after President Chun Doo Hwan had declared martial law.)

Sujeewa Pushpakumara Prasanna Handuwala was the eldest son of our family. He was a very bright and talented boy who was appreciated by all of his teachers. He had passed the Grade 5 scholarship examination too. He had been a second-year student in the G.C.E. (Advanced Level) science section of Embilipitiya Central College in 1989. The school principal was Dayananda Lokugalappatti.

On Aug. 7, 1989, two people in civil attire came to our house and inquired whether my son was at home. They visited my house twice that day. I later came to know that one of these two people was Capt. Vidanagamage Jaliya Dhananjaya Epa of the Kuttigala army camp. The other one was also an officer of that camp.

We received similar visits from Capt. Epa and the other person fives times between Aug. 9 and Aug. 17. Finally, I agreed to meet Capt. Epa on Aug. 22 in Embilipitiya after he had come once again the previous day. By this time, I had developed a certain confidence in him.

As agreed, I went to the concrete yard junction in Embilipitiya at 9.00 a.m. on Aug. 22 with my son and wife. The three of us got into the car that was sent by Capt. Epa and went to the Thimbalkuliya army camp near Udawalava. There I saw Capt. Epa in his full army uniform for the first time. He questioned my son nearly one hour about various things that were not related to our son. After the questioning, we were sent home.

Five days later Capt. Epa and the other person came again and asked me to produce my son the next morning before Col. R. P. Liyanage, the army coordinating officer in Embilipitiya. We took his advice and accompanied my son to the army coordinating office in Embilipitiya and produced him before Col. Liyanage the following day on Aug. 28.

The colonel talked to my son very kindly. He said that he would like to speak with my son leisurely so we were asked to leave my son with the colonel for a week. We were asked to bring him a sarong, a shirt, a tube of toothpaste and toothbrush and leave them at the gate. I was asked to come back after a week.

According to a message we received from Capt. Epa, I went to the army coordinating camp in Embilipitiya on the morning of Sept. 2. I saw that my son though was in a very sad state. He cried as soon as he saw us. I understood that my son had been thoroughly tortured in custody.

I went to the army camp again on Sept. 6 after receiving another message from Capt. Epa. He said that my son had swallowed several pieces of glass, a bicycle key, some nuts and pieces of sponge. Since he was in a serious condition, he was handed over to us on the condition that we would bring him back to the camp after medical treatment. Capt. Epa said my son had voluntarily swallowed these foreign bodies, but I did not believe him. My son told me that he was compelled to swallow them while being questioned.

As soon as I picked up my son from Capt. Epa, I took him to Dr. B. A. Mendis, the district medical officer, or DMO, of Kuttigala. He treated him and advised me to take an X-ray and bring my son back to see him as soon as possible.

According to the doctor's advice, I went to the Hambantota Base Hospital with my son on Sept. 7, took an X-ray and forwarded it to Dr. Mendis. He examined the X-ray, gave the necessary treatment and advised me to examine his faeces. He advised my son to stay in bed for a week.

When we examined the faeces of my son, we found nine pieces of spinach, two bicycle keys, three nuts and pieces of glass. Can a person swallow all these things voluntarily as Capt. Epa told me?

Although my son was not completely recovered, I had to take him to the army camp according to the instructions given by Capt. Epa. Thus, I went to the army camp with my son on Sept. 9 and asked Capt. Epa for permission to keep my son at home until he recovered. Unsympathetically, Capt. Epa refused my appeal and asked me to leave my son there and go.

Later I went to the main entrance of the camp several times, but I could not see my son or meet any officer.

On Oct. 4, I sent a letter to Col. Liyanage pleading with him to release my son. I was also able to meet the colonel and appealed to him to release my son. At last, he consented and released my son but based on the condition that I bring him to his office weekly.

With much relief, I accompanied my son to see Dr. Mendis, who advised me to take my son immediately to a specialist.

I thus took my son to a specialist, Dr. Ranjith Jayawardna, in Galle. My son stayed at a relative's house while he was given the necessary medical treatment by Dr. Jayawardena. Every weekend I accompanied my son to the army coordinating office in Embilipitiya to sign the book that was kept there. After signing the book, my son was sent to our relative's home in Galle and underwent further medical treatment.

I accompanied my son to the army coordinating office on Dec. 17. We were waiting at the gate until we were called in. I saw there was a car, a yellow Lancer, near the gate. After we were called, we entered the office, and my son signed the book in front of Capt. Epa. As we were leaving, I noticed that the yellow Lancer was not to be seen.

Because I wanted to change the rear tire of my motorbike, we went to the Udagama Tire Centre, a tire shop which was situated about one kilometre from the army coordinating office. I rode the bike, and my son was on the rear seat.

As soon as I stopped the bike in front of the Udagama Tire Centre, a person got out of a car that had been travelling behind us, assaulted me on my face, dragged off my son, put him in the car and sped off. The car was a yellow Lancer. This attack took place within a matter of seconds. The time was 10:15 a.m. on Dec. 17, 1989.

When I was assaulted, I fell down with the bike. My head was injured, and a front tooth was broken. I immediately hired a car, went to the army coordinating office and complained about the abduction of my son to Capt. Epa. Next I went to the Embilipitiya police and made a complaint. The time was 11:30 a.m. on the same day that my son was abducted. Afterwards I went to a dispensary nearby and got treatment for the wound on my head.

My wife and our second son left home to go to our relative's home in Galle to inform them about this tragedy. I remained at home with my youngest son, who was 13 years old.

In the afternoon on the same day, while I was resting on the bed in pain, several people rushed into the house and began to search every nook and corner for weapons. They brutally assaulted my youngest son and me and asked for weapons. While they were searching our house, they took whatever they could take. I understood by their speech and appearance, although they were in civilian clothes, that they were the soldiers that had abducted my son in the morning on the same day.

Since this tragedy occurred, I have taken every possible action to find my son, but I have failed. I did not see the innocent face of my beloved son thereafter. With an unbearable sorrow and pain in my heart, I wrote to every responsible person of the government, appealing to them to find my son. I informed the member of Parliament of the area, the minister of defence, the prime minister and the president of the country. I informed all of the institutions involved with human welfare, including the Red Cross, Amnesty International and the United Nations. All these efforts though were unsuccessful. I never saw my beloved son again after Dec. 17, 1989.

Later I decided to seek the help of the law. The parents of all of the 48 students who had been abducted by the cruel soldiers of the 6th Artillery Unit of the Sri Lanka Army got together and formed an organization called the Embilipitiya Disappeared School Children's Parents Organisation and began to press the UNP [United National Party] government under the leadership of the former president, the late R. Premadasa, to render justice for all of the abducted innocent school children and their parents of Embilipitiya. The organisation sought to do whatever was necessary cooperatively, regularly and more methodically. More than 600 letters were written by the organisation to various people and institutions in the country as well as abroad.

Habeas corpus applications were filed on behalf of the Embilipitiya abducted students in 1992 by the Movement for the Defence of Democratic Rights (MDDR) in Rajagiriya. Renown lawyer Nimal Punchihewa and his team did a honourable and valuable service in this case.

The pressure against the government was becoming greater and greater. Internationally recognised people, like Lord Avebury, the chairman of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group in the House of Lords in London; Karen Milek of Canada; Phil Esmonde, advisor to the Canadian International Development Agency, or CIDA; Ingrid Massage of Amnesty International; and many other people and institutions, began to frequently question the government about the Embilipitiya massacre. After this outcry, the government could no longer turn a deaf ear to the cries of the parents of the 48 disappeared innocent students of Embilipitiya anymore.

At last, the government was compelled to appoint a CID [Criminal Investigation Dept.] team to investigate this massacre and collect important evidence about the abductions of the Embilipitiya students between Aug. 2, 1989, and Jan. 10, 1990.

After the CID investigation, case No. 121/94 was filed by the government in the High Court in Ratnapura in 1994 against nine suspects, including Col. Liyanage, Capt. Epa and Dayananda Lokugalappatti, the school principal. It was heard by Justice Chandradasa Nanayakkara. On Feb. 10, 1999, the judgment was delivered. Although Col. Liyanage and another of the suspects had been released earlier, the remaining seven accused people were given sentences of 10 years in prison.

The seven accused then made appeals to the Court of Appeals against the judgment of the High Court. The appeal court confirmed the High Court judgment but released one more person. At the same time, the appeal court ordered those convicted to begin serving their sentence in 2002. A further appeal was then made to the Supreme Court against the judgment of the appeal court. The Supreme Court, however, ordered that the sentence of those found guilty should commence on Feb. 10, 1999.

These types of abductions, disappearances and killings should not happen in a civilised society anywhere in the world. All the human rights of our innocent sons were totally denied by the inhuman monsters who were in power in 1989 and 1990 in Sri Lanka.

Our sons are no longer living, but it is a great responsibility for everyone to create a more secure and happier society for all the sons and daughters who are living today and will be living tomorrow.

To perform this great task, certain prevailing laws should be reformed, and new rules and regulations should be introduced. In fact, we cannot build a better society by only law. What is done by force is not permanent. Thus, there must be an inner change in every person. In other words, a mental revolution must take place in every human being.

I believe that it can be done only through a balanced and correct education. Then the mind and behaviour patterns of people will profitably develop to build a safe world for our present and future generations. Every heart must be filled with loving kindness. If loving kindness is developed at the bottom of every heart and spread throughout the world, all beings will enjoy happiness and comfort, all beings will feel safe and secure, not only in this world, but also throughout the whole universe as Lord Buddha taught us in the Metta Sutta. May all beings enjoy happiness and comfort; may they feel safe and secure.